What's To Be Done?
Blog Post 2: What’s To Be Done?
One of the reasons I wanted to go hard in this business is because it will help me learn about business.
Being an actor is a business; but its a funny business where as part of the business model, the business stuff is kind of supposed to be nobody’s business but the business people’s. That is to say… My job is fees for fee-fees (feelings) and I the actor do my part and then let the adults (agents, casting directors and clients) sort out all of the number stuff.
Step Aside, Talent boi. Time for the men to talk.
Yet Hollywood is most definitely a business; but again, hard to quantify what is meant by that most of the time. People say it all the time in the entertainment industry, ‘this is a BUSINESS!’; it’s a cliche to remind people that the entertainment industry is a business- but usually the cliche is invoked just to complain about how one artistic aspect of something was compromised for end-user ticket sales- people don’t generally use their “this is a business” speech up for a process as banal as contract negotiating, or casting, or, what I’m talking about, marketing of the individual.
Being a commercial voice-over actor, well, the biz is kind of refreshingly more honest about who you are, what you’re expected to be able to do, the skills you need; HOW you fit into the broader ecosystem of who the clients are, who are the customers that your clients are trying to reach, are, and on what level you’re trying to reach them.
I just read Robert Kiyosaki’s book ‘The Four Quadrants’ which I highly recommend. I had read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ which to be honest, I don’t recommend. If you’re remotely interested in self-development, you get the crux of that book just existing in the culture. One dad did all the ‘right’ things, got a job in education, did some consulting work in the private sector, listened to his financial advisors, bought new cars and bigger houses regularly on the advice of his accountant for tax write-offs, and by the time he was 55 or so, realized that he was outwardly living well but totally broke and more dependent on his job than ever. Meanwhile, the other dad was a business guy, started out pretty poor, bought a couple rental properties with other people’s money, got more experienced, upped the ante, meanwhile not garnering nearly as much ‘respect’ as Kiyosaki’s first dad, but in contrast, by the time he was 55, never had to work another day in his life, got all of the community ‘respect’ by doing charity work, and basically was just killin it in life.
In The Four Quadrants, he breaks down a 4-square graph, with Employee over Self-Employed on the left, and Business Owner over Investor on the right. And the freedom comes from moving your center of gravity from the left two squares to the right two squares. Another thing you may notice is that ‘Self-Employed’ is on the left side of the column while ‘Business Owner’ is on the right side of the column- when for n00bs like me, those things are kind of used interchangeably. Are you working for someone else? Employee. Are you working for yourself? Biz/Owner/Investor/Self-Employed/Everything else, awesome job, great show. But noooo… Self-Employed is not the same as owning a business- not by a long shot. The difference, I think, isn’t even whether or not you have employees- the difference is, do you have assets, and of what quality?
So what is an asset?
Oxford Reference says: Any item owned or right possessed by a firm or individual which has an economic, commercial, or exchangeable value.
Basically it’s anything you own or have the rights to, that produces interest / returns-on-investment.
So how does that relate to being a voice-over actor? Well, it comes down to priorities. It’s oh-so-very-tempting as a voice-actor to take, say, a 4-hour time block and go onto a site like voices.com and start shooting out auditions. Instant, simple, quantifiable output, instant potential for reward (booking the job you just auditioned for). But the wise VO says, how do I take my time out of the ‘Employee’ column of Kiyosaki’s quadrants, and move it into ‘Business Owner’? Well I’m glad you asked!
That would be prioritizing business assets first, over opportunities.
In good ol’ plain English, its better to spend time going to the gym, improving your wardrobe, maybe taking an improv class to work on your personality, rather than spending that time on the couch swiping on tinder til your thumbs bleed; maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but over the long haul, focusing on gym/wardrobe and style/personality/confidence beats focusing on downloading more dating apps and swiping til your thumbs fall off.
Ironically... This machine is an asset.
Focus on the assets first, then the individual opportunities as your time allows.
Now, if you have an agent submitting you for something, then, I would argue, focus on that audition first, because your relationship with that agent is the asset; and if it’s time sensitive, jump on it!
Yet the number one priority for a voice-actor (or perhaps any creative?) is producing and cultivating assets that in turn produce interest in the people and systems who may give you money to do what you do best. It’s the old ‘let your money work for you’ cliche. Let the interest from your business assets garner interest for you in the buyer’s minds.
These days I’m constantly looking at ways to produce assets that will communicate my value and abilities to the people and systems that hire voice actors like me. Here’s some easy ones.
- Demo Reels. This one is never finished. It constantly needs updating. Right now, I have my 2017 commercial demo reel, but it really needs to be two demo reels- one is lots of vocal compression/ high-energy, the other is.. everything else, from diamond commercials, to grocery stores, to tech companies.
- Personal/Biz Website. Also never finished. Having a website is a major asset that communicates value to the marketplace.
- Creating profiles on different platforms to generate working opportunities
- Voice Lessons! I like to do singing lessons to make my voice a cut above, and I also have tongue twisters I work on weekly. I consider this developing business assets too; (though for me it can also be a touchy-feely rabbithole if I’m not careful)
- WRITING BLOG POSTS! Because this is making me an authority to the marketplace. Like… actually. Right now. You’re literally watching it happen.
- Creating a super fun marketing video
BTW in the near future my buddy Andrew Greer and I are collabing on a few exciting new projects, one of which being creating a SUPER FUN MARKETING VIDEO.
Anyways, the main point is, the difference between a talented guy who does really good auditions, and the guy/gal who books job after job and begins to get work dropped in their lucky little lap, I think, is not like… whether or not they CONFORM TO THE SYSTEM.
It is, rather, first and foremost, (assuming they already have talent and commitment and training), the ability to SEE the systems as they truly ARE, and then instinctively knowing where they can position themselves, and fit within that system. Without clarity, willingness is irrelevant either way. On the eve of my 34th birthday, this is suddenly becoming clear… the real question is why the heck did it take me so long?!? I can only assume a lack of desperation :D
And still! It’s 1:30pm on my day off. I’ve been focused on this blog post for the past few hours. I could have jumped on that treadmill and started flexing away on anonymous auditions that would’ve yielded an immediate sense of satisfaction. Yet despite all of those voices in my head, I’m still finishing up this blog post.
Do you know how offensive that is to my ego?
Even though this formula that I’ve just made from my own brain tells me that the blog post is actually 10x more important than taking another shot at another fly-by-night gig. And that while gigs like that will come and go, the blog post that I’m writing and the ideas it communicates will be part of my intellectual and cultural property for the rest of my life.
And despite the doubt, there’s the confidence underneath that this is just the Karmically right way to go about building a business, and indeed having a life that is designed to generally get better every year well into the late fifties/early sixties, when the fruits of one’s labor and the labor of one’s assets can start to take over for the constant hustle and grind.
Here’s to that day. Now in the meantime if you agree, let’s keep making, building and developing our assets, shall we?